Arts & Leisure

Film screenings, documentary mark anniversary of People Power Revolution

Posted on February 23, 2016

MOVIE screening and special TV shows will mark the 30th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution this week.

VILMA SANTOS (C) stars in Dekada ’70 about a family caught up in the violence of Martial Law. The film will be screened for free at the Quezon City Museum.

The Quezon City Film Development Commission (QCFDC), in partnership with ABS-CBN Film Archives, will hold a free screening of the award-winning film, Dekada ’70 to mark the occassion.

QCFDC is the local film council of Quezon City that was created by Mayor Herbert Bautista in 2006, best known for organizing the Quezon City International Film Festival (QCinema) and for providing grants to up-and-coming filmmakers.

The special showing will be held on Feb. 24 at the newly constructed QCX Museum Mini Theater. Screening schedules are 2:30 p.m and 5 p.m.

Chito S. Roño’s 2002 drama Dekada ’70 won the Gawad Urian Best Picture a year after its release. Years later, ABS-CBN Film Archives digitally re-mastered the film, further solidifying its position in film history.

Based on the novel written by Lualhati Bautista, the movie gives a glimpse into the life of a middle-class family living under the Martial Law. The family -- headed by Julian (Christopher De Leon) and Amanda (Vilma Santos) is shaken when most of their sons start to participate in various forms of activism, with Ms. Amanda finally deciding to take up arms and to leave her apolitical outlook behind.

FILM FESTIVAL
Meanwhile, the year-long Active Vista International Human Rights Film Festival opens its 4th edition in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the People Power Revolution with a by-invitation-screening of the film EDSA XXX by avant-garde filmmaker, KHAVN, on Feb. 24, 6 p.m., at the Shang Cineplex 4, Shangri-La Mall, Mandaluyong City.

The festival opens in five key regional cities nationwide -- Iloilo, Cebu, Dumaguete, Davao and Metro Manila, then travels to different universities and communities and runs till Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.

According to a press release, the Active Vista film festival “dares to inspire a revolution of the minds of its audience by bringing together truth and imagination, advocacy and art, and empowerment and entertainment on the big screen. With an array of films tackling different human rights issues, the festival opening lineup is the most diverse one yet.”

After the by-invitation-only screening of EDSA XXX on the 24th at the Shangri-La Mall, the rest of the festival will be open to the public, starting on Feb. 25 with the screening of Jun Lana’s Barber’s Tales and Pepe Diokno’s Kapatiran on Feb. 26, also at Shangri-La. Ara Chawdhury’s Miss Bulalacao will screen in Dumaguete on Feb. 25. On the last day of the festival’s opening run, Feb. 27, there will be simultaneous screenings in different venues: The Missing Picture by Rithy Panh, Citizenfour by Laura Poitras, and Margarita with a Straw by Shonali Bose will be shown at the UP Film Center; Pepe Diokno’ Engkwentro will be screened in Iloilo; Miss Bulalacao will be shown in Cebu for a back-to-back screening; and, Chuck Gutierrez’s Iisa goes to Davao.

The festival shall be attended by filmmakers, members of the diplomatic community, academics, human rights advocates, and students, among others. International guests include Malaysia’s Freedom Film Festival Director Anna Har and New York-based Filipina writer and feminist Ninotchka Rosca. Chito Gascon, chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, Ola Almgren, United Nations resident coordinator in the Philippines, and Jaco Beerends, deputy head of mission, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands shall share messages of support to the festival during the program.

The opening this February marks the start of the festival, which will travel to different cities nationwide and hold creative workshop labs, film competition, and conferences. Active Vista shall also present a Dutch-Filipino Film Festival.

DISCOVERY CHANNEL DOCU
Three of the major players of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution share their candid perspectives in the documentary, People Power: 30 YEARS ON, which will air on the Discovery Channel.

The documentary tells much of the story through interviews with former First Lady Imelda Marcos, the late President Cory Aquino, and former President Fidel V. Ramos.

Originally shot 10 years ago, Discovery presenting the film for the first time on TV to mark the 30th anniversary of the EDSA People’s Power Revolution.

The documentary footage is supplemented by narration by Trey Farley, who also visited key locations around Metro Manila significant to EDSA in order to introduce an up-to-date perspective on each chapter of the EDSA story, peppered with his own personal recollections of witnessing the revolution as a young boy.